City seeks provincial OK to reopen odour-plagued compost plant
Hamilton must submit a report to the province by Nov. 14 outlining what went wrong at the stinky plant — and what the city will do to avoid future smelly scenarios
THE
CITY IS LOOKING at drastically shrinking its stinky compost operations to try to earn provincial permission to reopen the shuttered municipal plant.
The Burlington Street facility closed in June after a nasty stench spurred complaints across the lower city — as well as an ongoing provincial investigation. Since then, more than 6,000 tonnes of residential food waste collected in green bins have been dumped in the Glanbrook landfill.
Hamilton waste staff are working on a plan to prevent future odours and previously expressed hope local curbside organics could be gradually reintroduced into a cleaned-up plant this month.
But for now, the plant remains closed and cannot reopen until the province signs off on a formal “startup plan,” said Stephen Burt, district supervisor for the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.
Burt said he expects the city to submit a detailed plan by Nov. 14 that outlines what caused the offending odours, how the city will prevent future smelly scenarios and how the plant will be “responsibly” restarted.
“It’s not something you can just turn a switch and start up,” he said.
Public works head Dan McKinnon said the city is “very close” to a plan to allow a gradual reopening of the plant by the end of the year.
In the meantime, a parallel provincial investigation continues into odour complaints about the plant, which is operated on contract for the city by AIM Environmental. So far the probe has not resulted in any orders or charges.
Public works head Dan McKinnon, who was slated to meet with ministry officials Tuesday, said the city is “very close” to a plan to allow a gradual reopening of the plant by the end of the year — assuming the province is on board.
“My hope would be a matter of weeks rather than months,” he said, while cautioning it could take up to a year to reach regular operating levels again. (In anticipation of that time lag, council directed staff in September to seek out-of-town compost facilities that could take some of Hamilton’s collected green waste and keep it out of the dump.)
City staff declined to discuss the nitty-gritty details of its plan before alerting councillors in a formal update expected to be emailed out later this week. But Burt said city officials have floated the prospect of cutting the legally approved capacity of the plant to 20,000 tonnes a year — or less than a third of the current annual maximum. That scenario would allow extra space to “cure” compost within “enclosed tunnels,” providing an extra odour barrier.
City waste manager Emil Prpic later said via email that Hamilton is still exploring other “possible operating scenarios” that don’t require amended environmental approvals. The city has also talked about the potential to extend its pollution stack and use a new carbon filter.
Regardless, the city appears intent on cutting the amount of organic waste it recycles into compost at the Burlington Street plant, which previously accepted up to 660 tonnes of green waste per day at busy times.
Part of that reduction could come by ending or changing contracts with Halton Region and Simcoe. But the city will also temporarily ban leafand-yard waste from green bins starting April 1.
Residents are being asked to put leaves, small branches and grass clippings in paper bags or “rigid containers” separate from green bins meant for food waste. The yard waste is composted in Glanbrook.
Ward representative Coun. Sam Merulla has said he would like to explore taking the compost operations “in-house” after the current private contract expires — or even relocating the facility. But Merulla said this week he is not opposed to restarting the plant “so long as the appropriate safeguards are in place” to protect odour-weary residents.